Abstract: The major focus of these chapters was understanding the students and using their MI’s and interests throughout all aspects of teaching e.g exams, grading, and instruction.
In chapter eight of UbD grading and assessments were a major focus: in evaluating it is important to eliminate hindering factors such as associating grades with letters and numbers; effectively implementing this will reveal a clearer image of what the students have/ and have not achieved.
In chapter eight of MI the major focus was staying connected to the students. For example, a student is starting to doze off halfway through your lesson. Using your knowledge of her interests and displayed abilities you assume she has a strong musical intelligence; try playing a relevant song, or incorporating music in some way to regain her attention.
Students with disabilities and assessments were a major topic of MI chapter eleven. Teachers must clear their mind of any preconceived notions and stereotypesthat clutter their minds; when we consider somebody that has a disability we do not ask what they excel at, rather with what they struggle.
Finally, chapter twelve of MI incorporated all of the above and more- the major focus was student cognition. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will make evaluation much more accurate.
Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not fairly reflected in exams as an infinite amount of factors could influence their performances. Additionally, grading and evaluating must remain consistent and fair. As teachers, it is not our duty to reprimand students for having emotions and interests, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is.
Synthesis:
Chapter eight of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design focus on the grading system and how it should follow the six main principles. These principles are; clearly specified learning goals and performance standards, valid evidence, established criteria, what should(n’t) be graded, avoiding means, and focusing on achievement. Ashley Godbout summed up the chapter extremely well by saying “Teachers should eliminate the worry of external factors that obstruct the effectiveness of how students can prove what they know. Things like learning disabilities, not speaking English well and bad penmanship shouldn’t have an effect on a student’s grade.” Some classmates disagreed with this chapter because they have a hard time fully understanding how this strategy would look like in the classroom. Russell Warren was able to capture the main goal and message of the chapter when he said, “Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade.” Chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences discussed about incorporating the eight multiple intelligences in a lesson to keep the students engaged and motivated in what is being taught. This chapter focused on how to transition, communicate classroom rules, group formations, and managing individual behaviors all by using the eight intelligences. Meghan Hughes pointed out that “Capturing and keeping students’ attention is the key principle in fostering a positive relationship between the teacher and the students, and between the students as a classroom.” One must remember that there is much more to do than just use MI’s in the classroom. Mike Diffin reminded the everyone by saying, “…use of the MI’s is the first step.”
MI theory can also be used to reform special education in a positive and more inclusive way. We would like to think that all educators today are free of arguments backed by discriminatory thought on the topic of special education. However, evidence of discrimination is existent in the very ways modern public schools segregate these students and provide a unique [[#|label for]] them. In reality, including students into a classroom that practices inclusion of the MI's will more likely foster positive growth in every student's ability to learn, no matter what labels they may carry in with them. Cole absolutely nailed it when he said: "Should we be able to properly see the differences in all students with disregard for any and all forms of judgmental impressions, then we will be able to implement the MI characteristics anywhere". Paraphrasing a popular quote: "Education is like a box of chocolates. You never know what type of students you are going to get". On the outside, chocolates all look pretty similar. Some vary in size, shape, and color, but what makes them all truly unique is what is on the inside. By understanding what is inside the minds of our students as individuals, and appealing to all of the types of intelligences that we can detect, we create a higher level of equitable education for all.
In other words, rather than continuing to inadvertently limit our students with outdated practices, we should be "Promoting Christopherian Encounters, which means that we must try to push our students “beyond the edge” because much like the world was thought to be flat; Columbus challenged the idea and sailed 'over the edge'" - Cheyenne. This is the basic concept of Chapter 12, which focuses on applying MI theory to cognition. However, as Mr. Vogel point out "Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge). Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects". And thank goodness for people like Mr. Vogel who realize this. It is important to utilize MI theory to the best of our abilities in a way that reforms education rather than simply reinforces non-objective standardized testing. "Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade."- Russmeister.
Cole Phillips
Tomlinson and McTighe focus in on something that really hits home with me, personally, throughout chapter 8 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design. The authors posit that grades are, or should be, reflections of aptitude and level of ability leaning toward mastery of content, not a numerical justification of work completed. They go so far as to say that assignments should not be graded in the latter fashion anymore. While it may lean away from the logical, and seems easier to manipulate by the most duplicitous student, it is a system which needs immediate implementation in the classroom, in my opinion. A student is not a number and neither, then, should be his or her work or attempts at understanding content. It is not a matter of holding out on students, or on leaving them confused because of a new method of assessment. It is a matter of weeding out the trivial grades and similar point deductions for imperfections which are useless to note, and it is, simply, the only way, in my opinion, to grade.
In chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom Armstrong focuses in, once again, on the ideas of multiple intelligence integration, but this time through a classroom management lens. His is a suggestion that we orient, not only lesson plans and curricula, but the rules and regulations, the way the classroom is to be conducted, etc… on the principles of MI theory. He suggests that it is important to engage all students within every facet of the classroom experience, and that paying regards to MI theory in the realm of classroom management will better address all students, foster more positive relationships with such students, and ultimately will govern the classroom more appropriately, effectively, and interestingly for all.
One goes into chapter eight of Armstrong’s text feeling a shift in gears as he begins to describe addressing special education in the classroom, but only before realizing his thought that MI theory is as paramount to the success of special education as it is anywhere else. Every student is different, and every student is different regardless of need for extension or remediation, their aptitudes, their disadvantages or advantages, and every student must be recognized as such. Should we be able to properly see the differences in all students with disregard for any and all forms of judgmental impressions, then we will be able to implement the MI characteristics anywhere, and be able to serve any classroom, as we should.
Finally, in chapter twelve, Armstrong addresses cognitive function and ability directly. He sheds a bit of specificity on the application of MI theory for one of the first, true times, in positing that higher-ordering methods of thinking are not relegated exclusively to the logical thinkers, but must be addressed in all students, and must be addressed differently, and with respect to the multiple intelligences, in all cases. In doing so, we are not only enabling students to better function, or more comfortably function, in the classroom, but we are helping ourselves understand how best to appeal to the most technical form of learning style.
Cheyenne McCarthy
Chapter eight of Tomlinson and McTighe's book Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design explored the topic of grading and reporting achievement. It discussed six main principles of effective grading and reporting, which include clearly specified learning goals and performance standards, valid evidence, established criteria, what should(n’t) be graded, avoiding means, and focusing on achievement. All six of these principles support backward design and a standards-based education system. Often times, the teachers who believe in this method believe that grading can harm the motivation of students. This chapter also discussed the two or three separate factors that should be reported, achievement, progress, and work habits. In Armstrong’s Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, chapters eight, eleven, and twelve delved into the topics of Multiple Intelligence Theory and how it can be used and impact classroom management, teaching students with special needs, and improving cognitive skills. Chapter eight gave us examples of how to manage our classroom by creating rules that each intelligence can relate to, as well as examples of what to do for specific learners when there is a transition period coming up, (like lunch or recess). It also gives examples of managing individual behaviors, not only for each intelligence, but also different classes of students, such as aggressive, withdrawn, and hyperactive. Chapter eleven discusses MI Theory as a growth paradigm, rather than a deficit paradigm. It is a lot to do with person first language and creating a positive learning environment that will encourage the student, rather than put them down. It is a tailored approach to allow for the greatest success of the student, individually, not as a whole class. Chapter twelve is about how we can cater to students’ intelligence style and make learning and remembering easier, such as using a pneumonic device. Gardner is referenced in the section of this chapter labeled Promoting Christopherian Encounters, which means that we must try to push our students “beyond the edge” because much like the world was thought to be flat; Columbus challenged the idea and sailed “over the edge”. Lastly, Bloom’s Taxonomy lets us judge how much impact multiple intelligence curriculum has on our students. All six levels of Bloom’s can be used in the Multiple Intelligence curriculum. I truly enjoyed these articles. I think it is important for us, as future educators, to learn about catering to specific needs of all our students. There will not be a single classroom we step into that has 100% of the students being classified as “normal,” but what is it to be normal? We have tried to classify our students and put them in categories when something does not come easy to them or they seem a bit different. We use IEPs to focus on a specific need of the child in a subject they are usually doing poorly in, and rarely discuss the student’s strong attributes. I watched a Ted Talk that was presented by a thirteen year old boy named Logan, he says what he wants to be when he grows up is “happy and healthy” and he talks to us about hacking education. Hacking education creates an individualized learning environment where the student can be most successful; he’s a pretty smart kid. Another great idea is Jon Bergmann’s flipped mastery classroom. Each student gets to learn the material, but at their own individual learning level. All the students still have to meet the standards, but it can be done at their own pace and their own intelligence level. Students can do different experiments and assignments from one another because they are so individualized. All students must show that they have met the specific standard before moving on to the next unit of the curriculum. This type of classroom allows the teacher to move around the room and meet with students individually and see what/how they are doing learning the material. It’s all quite impressive. Cheyenne McCarthy
Tyler Michaud
Chapter eight of UbD/DI focused on grading and reporting achievements. Interestingly, the books suggest that the majority of assessment should not be graded. Although I love this idea, and I do agree that pre-assessments and formative assessments should never be graded. I would imagine if this were to be effective than the teacher would have to keep it completely under-wraps. I mean, in my high school experience if the students knew that something was not going to be graded then you did not do it; the student thought, “Why do something if it will not hurt me to not do it?” I guess, I am not sure how to implement non-graded assignment; I could threaten with making them graded if they did not do them, but I am pretty opposed to threats and, as aforementioned, grading pre-assessments or formative assessments. Additionally, I want to note for myself that as a teacher it is critical to explain what the grading system means and how student work is evaluated, thus making it clear what they have accomplished with each score given. Chapter eight of MI talked about using students’ multiple intelligences as tools to capture their attention. For perspective consider the following: a student is starting to doze off halfway through your lesson. Using your knowledge of her interests and displayed abilities you assume she has a strong musical intelligence; try playing a relevant song, or incorporating music in some way to regain her attention. Chapter eleven of MI really opened my mind about something: how we assess people with disabilities. For example, when we take into consideration somebody who has a disability we do not ask what they excel at, rather with what they struggle. I have had very little experience with this topic, but even I can see what a travesty this truly is; we should be working towards helping everybody learn and improve their skills regardless of disabilities or not. Chapter twelve focused on student cognition and how it plays a role in the class and MI theory. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will make evaluation much more accurate. Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not fairly reflected in exams as an infinite amount of factors could influence student performance. Additionally, even the best students have days where they are not functioning at their peak performance. As teachers, it is not our duty to reprimand students for having emotions, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is. My dream classroom is a place where students feel at home, where they feel they have the support needed to succeed, and where their interests will be fostered and allowed to blossom; this chapter aided my understanding of how this is achieved.
Ashley Godbout
Chapter 8 of UbD did a really great job at explaining principles of effective grading and reporting. Most importantly this chapter showed the importance of eliminating the association of grades with letter and number values. Grades should be based on the level of proficiency in meeting learning goals. Teachers should eliminate the worry of external factors that obstruct the effectiveness of how students can prove what they know. Things like learning disabilities, not speaking English well and bad penmanship shouldn’t have an effect on a student’s grade. An extremely important idea in this chapter is note everything needs to be graded. Our society is so grade focused and driven and too often learning goals and understandings are over looked. Grades show student achievement and provide feedback for growth. Grades shouldn’t be the center of your class and that’s an important lesson to take away from this chapter. Also, students should have the opportunity to re-do their work, to show how they have improved their knowledge. This will pave the way to motivating students and cancel the association between grades and success.
The classroom management ideas in Chapter 8 of MI were creative and engaging. The chapter included ways to gain students attention, preparing for transitions, communicating class rules, forming groups, and managing individual behaviors. For each of these topics the chapter explained eight ways the teacher could communicate their point. Some of my favorite ideas were the ones for forming groups. The naturalistic approach was to pick one of three animals and make the sound they make and this forms three groups. Providing students will multiple approaches is beneficial to internalizing classroom routines.
Chapter 11 introduces MI theory to Special Education. Students with disabilities shouldn’t be labeled as having a deficit or disease. Some important ways that MI supports the growth of these students is by avoiding labels, focusing on strengths, interactions with real-life activities and events, utilizing all the same materials, collaborative environments, and most importantly keeping the connections with peers and being in a least restrictive environment. If general education classes are including all intelligences in their classroom then there will be less referral to special education. The students who usually fail are the ones who are not linguistic and mathematical learners because these are the two mostly focused on. MI theory would put more emphasis on the students’ strengths and increase their self-esteem.
Chapter 12 applies MI theory to cognitive skills like memory, problem solving and forms of higher-order thinking. A lot of this is about providing students with opportunities to find what works for them. Our brains all work in different ways so one student might night to visualize images to remember how to spell words while others may need to create a song to remember them. When students are exposed to strategies to help them remember or problem solve they are going to be successful in any learning situations.
This aspect of MI is so important because student’s can find what intelligences they favor or do not but they might not have the skills to know how to function successfully in that intelligence. When teachers provide their students with these opportunities to learn about their thinking and apply it to their learning they are developing them into powerful and creative thinkers. Students are more likely to be successful learners when they find what ideas and ways of thinking combine with their learning styles.
Matt Potter
Chapter eight of Ubd focused once again on grading, and how to correctly grade. Grades should always be focused upon specified and pre written goal and standards. This will continuously provide students with motivation, and guidance that they need in order to stay on track. This chapter really pushes getting away from the normal grading system. As teachers we need to grade based on standards, effort, and the passion they present with their work. We need not to grade based off of what is right or wrong. Differentiation continues to be relevant and needs to be applied while grading. This will allow students with the best chance to succeed and improve.
Chapter eight in MI begins with a brief discussion on classroom management, based on MIs. We should work to gain the attention of our students. In all learning styles this is seen to be essential because you must have a students attention early on, in order to keep their attention, and their interest long term. Rules in the classroom are another difficulty in the classroom because some kids need things that certain teachers struggle to put forth. The overall goal of this chapter is to use all eight MIs, while maintaining control in the classroom.
[[#|Chapter eleven]] of MI considers special education in the classroom, and the importance of incorporating it when using MIs. The book suggests that special education is best advanced by studies that are centered on MI theory. This allows us, as teachers, to categorize special education students in non-discriminatory ways. I think this is really important because we have some very accomplished disabled individuals in our world. If we continue on the path we are, I believe we fail these students. They deserve the same rights, and the chance to be treated as an equal. Their IEPs need to be developed with all eight MIs in mind and I think this will help these student progress, and equal way. My view is that this will be most beneficial for everyone in the world of education.
Chapter twelve revolves around cognitive benefits of MI theory. Memory and problem solving were a few thing discussed in this chapter. All together the entire book showed that by using the MI theory we are able to better equip our students. This allows them to develop in a balanced way that will help them in the long run.
All of these chapters work toward increasing the educational and mental abilities of our students. It starts with actually teaching then the material, and ends with test and quizzes are the wrong approach. We must work harder in the middle areas to most benefit the students.
Meghan Hughes
Chapter 8 of UbD discussed the principles of grading and giving feedback effectively. This chapter referred to the idea of not relating scoring and grading to letters or numbers. The author feels that grades should be related to proficiency as opposed to having the students strive for a particular letter grade. I am unsure about how successful this method would be. I feel that students are more likely to succeed when they know exactly what they are striving for. It is difficult to relate proficiency to a language and a goal that most students can understand. Although I agree that students should be graded somewhat on their proficiency and growth, why would we want to disregard a student's grade just because they have the natural ability and mastery of the subject? Just because they do not demonstrate growth in the traditional sense does not mean they do not have mastery of the subject.
Chapter 8 of MI discusses the idea of using multiple intelligences to capture the attention of all students. It is important to engage all students in order to have a successful classroom. Regarding multiple intelligences, considering all students will be essential to controlling and maintaining a successful classroom environment. Capturing and keeping students' attention is the key principle in fostering a positive relationship between the teacher and the students, and between the students as a classroom.
Chapter 11 of MI discusses special education in the classroom. It is important to understand special education in the classroom in order to make sure that all multiple intelligences are included. The book discusses the idea that successful special education revolves around the use of multiple intelligences in the classroom. I believe that this is true. If the needs of all students are catered to, students will be successful. With positive relationships and an understanding of the multiple intelligences, the teacher will be successful in fostering learning and development with all students.
Chapter 12 is about the application of the MI theory to cognitive skills in the classroom. This includes memory, higher thinking, and problem solving. It is important that students find a method of intelligence that works for him/her as an individual. It is also important to identify how students think and understand information being presented by the teacher. Categorizing students' intelligences will be essential to implementing successful multiple intelligences in the classroom. Doing this will ensure that all students are included and all students will be allowed the ability to learn in a way that will be effective for them.
Russell Warren
With these three chapters, Thomas Armstrong is going deeper into the importance of utilizing multiple intelligence theory in the classroom to address the huge differences that are obvious in a student population. He says that classrooms are “microsocieties with student citizens”, each with their own role to play and desires and interests. Applying MI theory in management cases will keep the class exceptionally smooth. Just as teachers need to develop lesson plans considering the various learning styles students exemplify, they must develop rules and orders with the same things in mind. It will help the students better understand their expectations and be more comfortable in the lesson. However, MI theory is just a context, so not one is good for all. The individual needs to be recognized, which moves us into chapter 11. Each student has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s useless and detrimental to the growth of the student and the impact of our lessons if we focus on the latter. This goes the same for disabilities. I, similarly to Armstrong (I suppose), am really irked by that word. Yes, a student may have a deficiency in an area, but that does not mean we need to focus on that loss. Labeling students as disabled is a hugely weighted term, and the students will be pulled down by it. The powerful learning styles the students use should be celebrated and utilized to their benefit, and, as Armstrong says, “MI theory can help teachers identify a student’s strengths, and this information can serve as a basis for deciding what kinds of interventions are most appropriate.” MI theory treats all students, no matter the disability, as learners first, considering their strongest and weakest areas of learning. Utilizing the strengths of the students will boost their self-esteem and engage them in the class, while building their intelligence and learning styles. Finally, in chapter 12, Armstrong continues to talk about working on students’ cognitive skills. Personally, I never really enjoyed philosophy and get very easily confused by the many terms, so I find it particularly daunting to try and teach the students cognitive theory – but I agree it’s very important. MI theory is all about building on the students’ various learning styles, but if we don’t give them opportunities to grow through new learning strategies, they’ll never build and refine their skills. Chapter 8 of UbD also focused on student achievement, while looking at it through a grading scope. Tomlinson urges teachers to not focus on what is right or wrong, a strategy I know too well (and suffer under). In so many situations a student may present extreme effort or enthusiasm but receive a low grade due to wrong information, while another student easily understands the material and spent none of the time the other student did. Teachers need to appreciate both students and not favor either, not matter how easier one is to grade. Another point she brings up is that we don’t need to grade at the extent we do. Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade. We, as teachers, should want the students to utilize our information in the outside world, so they’re well prepared and ready to look at real-world problems in not such a black and white system, as they’ve been trained to do for years.
Christopher Vogel
Chapter 8 of UbD discusses the upsides and downsides of the grading and reporting system used in schools today and how to use them with backwards design and differentiated instruction. I thought it was interesting that the chapter pointed out the need to grade on content rather than the extraneous “fog” often considered in a student’s grade. I remember many of my papers would get marked down if I forgot my name or other methods of communicating my work rather than just simply the content I covered in the assignment. I hope in my future classroom to design assignments that encourage the successful communication (and the writing of names) of the material while only grading or evaluating the content. The rest of the chapter seemed to focus on how evaluating students can be more effective with more assignments and less dependency on the average of scores. The average does not provide a great means of evaluating a student. The book suggests putting more stock in the final assignments after students have built up a mastery rather than initial assignment grades due to the student still gaining mastery.
Chapter 8 of MI discusses various methods for classroom management and how to incorporate the MI’s into management explanation. I think the most critical part of the chapter for me was the discussion on how to match the strategy for each student. To express and idea to a student does not necessarily need to focus on his or her strongest intelligence. Sometimes a student will learn or understand material better if it comes from their weaker intelligence and will benefit while developing the intelligence.
Chapter 11 on MI discusses the use of MI with learning disabilities and how disabilities are viewed in the society today. The critical point to take from this chapter is to focus on the positive strengths that those with learning disabilities have and expand from there. Too often do we as teachers and as humans focus on the negative and try to improve it. The MI says that a far more effective and moralizing method is to use the strengths and positives each of us possess and use them in class. The MI method of teaching would be a huge benefit because it would cause teachers to find alternative methods of assignment and assessment to evaluate and teach those with learning disabilities.
In chapter 12 in MI, the discussion revolves around the use of MI in memory. Teachers should teach different methods of memorization based on a student’s strength in a particular intelligence. I think this can be critical for the early stages of learning in a classroom. Memorizing information rapidly can be useful but it needs to be reinforced with application. The chapter encourages this idea with the merging of MI theory with Bloom’s Taxonomy. Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge). Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects.
Michael Diffin
Chapter eight in Multiple Intelligences concentrates on how the management of the classroom can be modified using multiple intelligence theory. There are many ways to gain control of the class that are more or less effective than others. The text tells us that the least effective form of classroom management is the use of linguistic or verbal approach. There are many techniques that the book suggests, my favorite is the naturalist approach of playing the recording of an animal or having an animal in the room because a live animal will or should effectively draw the attention of the class. There are also lots of good suggestions in this chapter as how to integrate multiple intelligences in the classroom for all students.
[[#|Chapter eleven]] in Multiple Intelligences correlates the Multiple intelligences into special education. Special education can have many different needs for the integration of many types of learning. Students in the special education program need to do everything that is necessary to gain genuine learning so use of the MI's is the first step. The growth paradigm is a good start to the use of multiple intelligences. It does not label the students because this is the first thing that they remember and instead of being labeled they are remembered as being a person first. The second step is to focus on the strengths of the student. Then the use of teaching the students so that the information is relative to real life becomes very important to these students. Then we must facilitate a normal life pattern where they can have friends and peers.
Chapter twelve in Multiple Intelligences uses the MI theory in application to cognitive skills. The first step is accessing the memory. This is one of the reasons why it is important to apply to all of the intelligences because poor memory only ends up applying to several of the multiple intelligences. The next I the ability to problem solve. The children of the united states appear to be having a harder and harder time problem solving. The MI theory, if applied correctly can help facilitate the growth of the students ability to problem solve. We must also tap into a deeper level of learning. Students are going on past their educations with beliefs that should have been wiped out long before the laid claim to any type of degree. The use of blooms taxonomy is a good example of an assessment of the integration of the multiple intelligences.
Chapter eight in Integrating Differnetiated Instruction and Understanding by Design concentrates on the aspect of grading and reporting achievement. This chapter encompasses what I believe to be a perfect definition of grading, “Grading can be viewed as a two part process: (1) assigning symbolic letters or numbers at the end of a specified time to serve as a summary statement about evaluations made of students performances during that portion of t he learning cycle, and (2) reporting the evaluation(s) to students and parents.” I believe this is a perfect definition of the arbitrary process of grading. Achievement in the classroom can only be assessed based on the amount of time that the student has been in the class and how well you can base their individual growth.
Ashley Libby
Chapter eight of Differentiated Instruction focused on how grading and reporting should take place in a differentiated classroom. The book provided the reader with six principles to follow when thinking about grading and how to implement it in the classroom. The principles suggest that grades “should give as clear a measure as possible of the best a student can do…” (130) Students should also not be grader harsher because the majority of class is more advanced and they should not have points taken off if they cannot speak fluent English for example. It pointed out that “Formative assessments should rarely be factored into a final grade.” (131) I find this very baffling because students should be motivated to do well by formative assessments or else they may not put in as much effort if they know it does not count in the end. It is something to think about but I strongly believe in Formative assessments in my future classroom.
Chapter either of Multiple Intelligences was a real eye opener for me. This chapter explained how to grab the student’s attention using the different multiple intelligences. It gave suggestions for each of the intelligences for different scenarios. Trying to capture student’s attention can be such a frustrating time wasting event in the classroom. I have had teachers that would just yell at the class until they just got so annoyed that they would sit down and not say anything until the class quieted itself down. This chapter was very helpful and I will definitely use these techniques in my future classrooms.
Chapter eleven explained how students with disabilities can strive in the classroom. Often people have misconceptions about students with special needs. They sometimes believe that they are not strong with any intelligence when in reality they are usually very strong in one or more specific Intelligence. The book gave a list of famous influential people that had a disability of some sort. One person that extremely surprised me was Albert Einstein and how he had a learning disability. He is one of the inspirational people that keep me going when I have a hard time with new math concepts.
Chapter twelve talked about the brain and the cognitive skills of the students. This chapter suggests that even the brain works in the different intelligences. Student’s memory is affected with how they were taught the material. Problem solving also happens within the eight intelligences. One aspect of the chapter I found surprising was when the chapter suggested that students that had contemporary schooling graduate still naive just like they were in preschool. Cheyenne McCarthy gave us a link to a TEDx talk that was about a thirteen year old boy who attends one of the contemporary schools. He said that all students want is to be happy and healthy and that we do not teach that in schools. Why should students who get taught about being happy be called naieve?
Devin Boilard
UbD Chapter 8 & MI Chapters 8,11,12:
One of the points that really resonated with me in these chapters was the opening of Understanding by Design: Chapter 8, I think it adequately states the internal battle I have with trying to play both the role of advocate and judge. Additionally the topic of grading has really made me reflect on myself as a student, specifically how my experiences as a student will/are influencing my decisions as a teacher. I, like many, fall into the category of “grade hungry” student; I work only for that A. Last week in the midst of discussion on assessment Dr. Grace made reference to the fact that we as teachers should abstain from grading formative assessments, I thought at the time that I was surly misunderstanding. As a teacher I could not think of any assignment or task that I would assign and not link some numerical value to. While my drive for A’s has lead to me acquiring a respectable GPA it has in-turn created a learning atmosphere that lacks much comfort and is riddled with stress. I need to remain cognizant of my actions in the classroom and make sure they reflect a new age of learning; my goal as a teacher is not to give my students the same learning experience as I had, but a better one.
The chapter 8 goes on to really dissect the meaning grades and how past practices have contributed to a distorted image of what the letter actually stands for. For the indicator to sufficiently answer the question of mastery, which is at the core of what is to be gauged, it must be void of arbitrary contributions, such as zeros from missing work when the assignment itself was to help educate on a matter that they later showed mastery in.
Chapter 11 of Multiple Intelligences brings to light such an important topic, the state of special education. This is a subject that has been often left out of the dialogue when discussing education. This is in part due to the fact that the topics of education that do arise are often pertinent to what is taking place inside the walls of classrooms, while students with disabilities are located outside of these perimeters, sealed away in their own rooms. The positive light the MI growth paradigm brings to the topic of special education is refreshing, but sadly far overdue. The special education field, much like mainstream education, has narrowed its focus on student’s inabilities opposed to abilities due to a locked view of intelligence in the realm of verbal and logical intelligence. I think the MI theory really comes to life, and brings validity to the theory, through its use with students that have IEPs and learning disabilities. It is here, through the achieving of success by students previously labeled incapable, that you find your best examples of how intelligence is a spectrum not a linear scale. The cherry on top of this design is that because as teachers we should already be implementing Differentiated Instruction on our classrooms we can re-open the doors to those students who were previously shut out.
While chapter 11of MI does well to offer a broad range of examples of how DI can be used in the classroom, it still seems at moments overwhelming, as if thirty activities need to be going on consistently to meet all your student’s needs. Chapter 8 of MI does well to offer many quick and easy manners in which to use the intelligences to solve everyday classroom management issues. In particular I found the group pairing suggestions to be creative and engaging. I find much of their value in the opportunity it allows for students to move and take a break from the content while still completing a task.
Chapter 12 of MI does well to wrap the chapters up, examining the use of MI to purse a higher level of thinking, as outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning objectives. While the general approach of learning is in the hands of the teacher, what takes place inside our student’s heads is mainly out of sight, that does not mean that it should be out of mind. The need to advice our student’s analytical skills is a generally new theme in the field of the education, while memorization use to be the end-all goal, the ability to use information in context to life situations has grown to shown more value. Chapter 12 does well to bring to light the gap teachers need to be aware of between the classroom and the mind, it is relatively useless for us to supply information in a method that suits their preferred intelligences if they are not in possession of the ability to carry that information further.
Tyler Brown
UbD chapter 8 makes a crucial point about the current yet traditional form of grading in comparison to the emerging understanding that grades cannot accurately depict a student’s aptitude, progress, or potential in the form of a single number. Grades should be a reflection of an individual student’s ability and progress towards mastery of content instead of a snapshot of a summative assessment. While it would override decades of educational reforms and progress, I would even go as far as to say there needs to be a system that rids numbers from the grading equation entirely. Numbers can be too easily misinterpreted because of the lack of detail they provide. I understand that immediate implementation of such a system would cause a flurry of frustrations by current educators as well as students who have been socialized to understand that a number is the deciding factor in whether or not they will grow up to be successful or not. That is why, as is true with all reforms educational or not, it is most effective to start this process of phasing out numerical grades gradually. Perhaps a backwards design would be effective in accomplishing that goal over a set period of time ;)
In the MI book, the chapters discuss how MI theory can be applied to classroom management, special education, and development of cognitive skills, respectively. The encompassing idea here is that multiple intelligence theory can be applied to all aspects of education. Chapter 12, however, finally goes into detail about how the cognitive processes of MI theory work. As a double major in psych, I have been waiting for this chapter all semester. It dives into “memory” and how MI theory applies to cognition and memory in such a way that will help teachers dodge the age old problem of repetition sucking up class time. Spelling is a great example of this. Spelling in the traditional educational approach relies heavily on memorization and use of the linguistic intelligence. If one were to apply MI theory to the practice of spelling, however, you would see other students who typically struggled begin to understand and compete at the same level as linguistic-types in school spelling-bees. Problem solving is another educational concept that many students have struggled with because of the absence of all other MI’s (excluding the logical/mathematical). If cognitive skills were taught by implementing MI theory, there would be an immediate removal of such educational stigmas such as “I am simply bad at math” or “I am simply not good at spelling”.
Table of Contents
Team 3:
Tyler Michaud, Tyler Brown, and Ashley Libby
Abstract:
The major focus of these chapters was understanding the students and using their MI’s and interests throughout all aspects of teaching e.g exams, grading, and instruction.
In chapter eight of UbD grading and assessments were a major focus: in evaluating it is important to eliminate hindering factors such as associating grades with letters and numbers; effectively implementing this will reveal a clearer image of what the students have/ and have not achieved.
In chapter eight of MI the major focus was staying connected to the students. For example, a student is starting to doze off halfway through your lesson. Using your knowledge of her interests and displayed abilities you assume she has a strong musical intelligence; try playing a relevant song, or incorporating music in some way to regain her attention.
Students with disabilities and assessments were a major topic of MI chapter eleven. Teachers must clear their mind of any preconceived notions and stereotypes that clutter their minds; when we consider somebody that has a disability we do not ask what they excel at, rather with what they struggle.
Finally, chapter twelve of MI incorporated all of the above and more- the major focus was student cognition. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will make evaluation much more accurate.
Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not fairly reflected in exams as an infinite amount of factors could influence their performances. Additionally, grading and evaluating must remain consistent and fair. As teachers, it is not our duty to reprimand students for having emotions and interests, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is.
Synthesis:
Chapter eight of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design focus on the grading system and how it should follow the six main principles. These principles are; clearly specified learning goals and performance standards, valid evidence, established criteria, what should(n’t) be graded, avoiding means, and focusing on achievement. Ashley Godbout summed up the chapter extremely well by saying “Teachers should eliminate the worry of external factors that obstruct the effectiveness of how students can prove what they know. Things like learning disabilities, not speaking English well and bad penmanship shouldn’t have an effect on a student’s grade.” Some classmates disagreed with this chapter because they have a hard time fully understanding how this strategy would look like in the classroom. Russell Warren was able to capture the main goal and message of the chapter when he said, “Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade.” Chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences discussed about incorporating the eight multiple intelligences in a lesson to keep the students engaged and motivated in what is being taught. This chapter focused on how to transition, communicate classroom rules, group formations, and managing individual behaviors all by using the eight intelligences. Meghan Hughes pointed out that “Capturing and keeping students’ attention is the key principle in fostering a positive relationship between the teacher and the students, and between the students as a classroom.” One must remember that there is much more to do than just use MI’s in the classroom. Mike Diffin reminded the everyone by saying, “…use of the MI’s is the first step.”
MI theory can also be used to reform special education in a positive and more inclusive way. We would like to think that all educators today are free of arguments backed by discriminatory thought on the topic of special education. However, evidence of discrimination is existent in the very ways modern public schools segregate these students and provide a unique [[#|label for]] them. In reality, including students into a classroom that practices inclusion of the MI's will more likely foster positive growth in every student's ability to learn, no matter what labels they may carry in with them. Cole absolutely nailed it when he said: "Should we be able to properly see the differences in all students with disregard for any and all forms of judgmental impressions, then we will be able to implement the MI characteristics anywhere". Paraphrasing a popular quote: "Education is like a box of chocolates. You never know what type of students you are going to get". On the outside, chocolates all look pretty similar. Some vary in size, shape, and color, but what makes them all truly unique is what is on the inside. By understanding what is inside the minds of our students as individuals, and appealing to all of the types of intelligences that we can detect, we create a higher level of equitable education for all.
In other words, rather than continuing to inadvertently limit our students with outdated practices, we should be "Promoting Christopherian Encounters, which means that we must try to push our students “beyond the edge” because much like the world was thought to be flat; Columbus challenged the idea and sailed 'over the edge'" - Cheyenne. This is the basic concept of Chapter 12, which focuses on applying MI theory to cognition. However, as Mr. Vogel point out "Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge). Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects". And thank goodness for people like Mr. Vogel who realize this. It is important to utilize MI theory to the best of our abilities in a way that reforms education rather than simply reinforces non-objective standardized testing. "Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade."- Russmeister.
Cole Phillips
Tomlinson and McTighe focus in on something that really hits home with me, personally, throughout chapter 8 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design. The authors posit that grades are, or should be, reflections of aptitude and level of ability leaning toward mastery of content, not a numerical justification of work completed. They go so far as to say that assignments should not be graded in the latter fashion anymore. While it may lean away from the logical, and seems easier to manipulate by the most duplicitous student, it is a system which needs immediate implementation in the classroom, in my opinion. A student is not a number and neither, then, should be his or her work or attempts at understanding content. It is not a matter of holding out on students, or on leaving them confused because of a new method of assessment. It is a matter of weeding out the trivial grades and similar point deductions for imperfections which are useless to note, and it is, simply, the only way, in my opinion, to grade.
In chapter eight of Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom Armstrong focuses in, once again, on the ideas of multiple intelligence integration, but this time through a classroom management lens. His is a suggestion that we orient, not only lesson plans and curricula, but the rules and regulations, the way the classroom is to be conducted, etc… on the principles of MI theory. He suggests that it is important to engage all students within every facet of the classroom experience, and that paying regards to MI theory in the realm of classroom management will better address all students, foster more positive relationships with such students, and ultimately will govern the classroom more appropriately, effectively, and interestingly for all.
One goes into chapter eight of Armstrong’s text feeling a shift in gears as he begins to describe addressing special education in the classroom, but only before realizing his thought that MI theory is as paramount to the success of special education as it is anywhere else. Every student is different, and every student is different regardless of need for extension or remediation, their aptitudes, their disadvantages or advantages, and every student must be recognized as such. Should we be able to properly see the differences in all students with disregard for any and all forms of judgmental impressions, then we will be able to implement the MI characteristics anywhere, and be able to serve any classroom, as we should.
Finally, in chapter twelve, Armstrong addresses cognitive function and ability directly. He sheds a bit of specificity on the application of MI theory for one of the first, true times, in positing that higher-ordering methods of thinking are not relegated exclusively to the logical thinkers, but must be addressed in all students, and must be addressed differently, and with respect to the multiple intelligences, in all cases. In doing so, we are not only enabling students to better function, or more comfortably function, in the classroom, but we are helping ourselves understand how best to appeal to the most technical form of learning style.
Cheyenne McCarthy
Chapter eight of Tomlinson and McTighe's book Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design explored the topic of grading and reporting achievement. It discussed six main principles of effective grading and reporting, which include clearly specified learning goals and performance standards, valid evidence, established criteria, what should(n’t) be graded, avoiding means, and focusing on achievement. All six of these principles support backward design and a standards-based education system. Often times, the teachers who believe in this method believe that grading can harm the motivation of students. This chapter also discussed the two or three separate factors that should be reported, achievement, progress, and work habits. In Armstrong’s Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, chapters eight, eleven, and twelve delved into the topics of Multiple Intelligence Theory and how it can be used and impact classroom management, teaching students with special needs, and improving cognitive skills. Chapter eight gave us examples of how to manage our classroom by creating rules that each intelligence can relate to, as well as examples of what to do for specific learners when there is a transition period coming up, (like lunch or recess). It also gives examples of managing individual behaviors, not only for each intelligence, but also different classes of students, such as aggressive, withdrawn, and hyperactive. Chapter eleven discusses MI Theory as a growth paradigm, rather than a deficit paradigm. It is a lot to do with person first language and creating a positive learning environment that will encourage the student, rather than put them down. It is a tailored approach to allow for the greatest success of the student, individually, not as a whole class. Chapter twelve is about how we can cater to students’ intelligence style and make learning and remembering easier, such as using a pneumonic device. Gardner is referenced in the section of this chapter labeled Promoting Christopherian Encounters, which means that we must try to push our students “beyond the edge” because much like the world was thought to be flat; Columbus challenged the idea and sailed “over the edge”. Lastly, Bloom’s Taxonomy lets us judge how much impact multiple intelligence curriculum has on our students. All six levels of Bloom’s can be used in the Multiple Intelligence curriculum.I truly enjoyed these articles. I think it is important for us, as future educators, to learn about catering to specific needs of all our students. There will not be a single classroom we step into that has 100% of the students being classified as “normal,” but what is it to be normal? We have tried to classify our students and put them in categories when something does not come easy to them or they seem a bit different. We use IEPs to focus on a specific need of the child in a subject they are usually doing poorly in, and rarely discuss the student’s strong attributes. I watched a Ted Talk that was presented by a thirteen year old boy named Logan, he says what he wants to be when he grows up is “happy and healthy” and he talks to us about hacking education. Hacking education creates an individualized learning environment where the student can be most successful; he’s a pretty smart kid. Another great idea is Jon Bergmann’s flipped mastery classroom. Each student gets to learn the material, but at their own individual learning level. All the students still have to meet the standards, but it can be done at their own pace and their own intelligence level. Students can do different experiments and assignments from one another because they are so individualized. All students must show that they have met the specific standard before moving on to the next unit of the curriculum. This type of classroom allows the teacher to move around the room and meet with students individually and see what/how they are doing learning the material. It’s all quite impressive. Cheyenne McCarthy
Tyler Michaud
Chapter eight of UbD/DI focused on grading and reporting achievements. Interestingly, the books suggest that the majority of assessment should not be graded. Although I love this idea, and I do agree that pre-assessments and formative assessments should never be graded. I would imagine if this were to be effective than the teacher would have to keep it completely under-wraps. I mean, in my high school experience if the students knew that something was not going to be graded then you did not do it; the student thought, “Why do something if it will not hurt me to not do it?” I guess, I am not sure how to implement non-graded assignment; I could threaten with making them graded if they did not do them, but I am pretty opposed to threats and, as aforementioned, grading pre-assessments or formative assessments. Additionally, I want to note for myself that as a teacher it is critical to explain what the grading system means and how student work is evaluated, thus making it clear what they have accomplished with each score given.Chapter eight of MI talked about using students’ multiple intelligences as tools to capture their attention. For perspective consider the following: a student is starting to doze off halfway through your lesson. Using your knowledge of her interests and displayed abilities you assume she has a strong musical intelligence; try playing a relevant song, or incorporating music in some way to regain her attention. Chapter eleven of MI really opened my mind about something: how we assess people with disabilities. For example, when we take into consideration somebody who has a disability we do not ask what they excel at, rather with what they struggle. I have had very little experience with this topic, but even I can see what a travesty this truly is; we should be working towards helping everybody learn and improve their skills regardless of disabilities or not. Chapter twelve focused on student cognition and how it plays a role in the class and MI theory. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will make evaluation much more accurate. Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not fairly reflected in exams as an infinite amount of factors could influence student performance. Additionally, even the best students have days where they are not functioning at their peak performance. As teachers, it is not our duty to reprimand students for having emotions, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is. My dream classroom is a place where students feel at home, where they feel they have the support needed to succeed, and where their interests will be fostered and allowed to blossom; this chapter aided my understanding of how this is achieved.
Ashley Godbout
Chapter 8 of UbD did a really great job at explaining principles of effective grading and reporting. Most importantly this chapter showed the importance of eliminating the association of grades with letter and number values. Grades should be based on the level of proficiency in meeting learning goals. Teachers should eliminate the worry of external factors that obstruct the effectiveness of how students can prove what they know. Things like learning disabilities, not speaking English well and bad penmanship shouldn’t have an effect on a student’s grade. An extremely important idea in this chapter is note everything needs to be graded. Our society is so grade focused and driven and too often learning goals and understandings are over looked. Grades show student achievement and provide feedback for growth. Grades shouldn’t be the center of your class and that’s an important lesson to take away from this chapter. Also, students should have the opportunity to re-do their work, to show how they have improved their knowledge. This will pave the way to motivating students and cancel the association between grades and success.The classroom management ideas in Chapter 8 of MI were creative and engaging. The chapter included ways to gain students attention, preparing for transitions, communicating class rules, forming groups, and managing individual behaviors. For each of these topics the chapter explained eight ways the teacher could communicate their point. Some of my favorite ideas were the ones for forming groups. The naturalistic approach was to pick one of three animals and make the sound they make and this forms three groups. Providing students will multiple approaches is beneficial to internalizing classroom routines.
Chapter 11 introduces MI theory to Special Education. Students with disabilities shouldn’t be labeled as having a deficit or disease. Some important ways that MI supports the growth of these students is by avoiding labels, focusing on strengths, interactions with real-life activities and events, utilizing all the same materials, collaborative environments, and most importantly keeping the connections with peers and being in a least restrictive environment. If general education classes are including all intelligences in their classroom then there will be less referral to special education. The students who usually fail are the ones who are not linguistic and mathematical learners because these are the two mostly focused on. MI theory would put more emphasis on the students’ strengths and increase their self-esteem.
Chapter 12 applies MI theory to cognitive skills like memory, problem solving and forms of higher-order thinking. A lot of this is about providing students with opportunities to find what works for them. Our brains all work in different ways so one student might night to visualize images to remember how to spell words while others may need to create a song to remember them. When students are exposed to strategies to help them remember or problem solve they are going to be successful in any learning situations.
This aspect of MI is so important because student’s can find what intelligences they favor or do not but they might not have the skills to know how to function successfully in that intelligence. When teachers provide their students with these opportunities to learn about their thinking and apply it to their learning they are developing them into powerful and creative thinkers. Students are more likely to be successful learners when they find what ideas and ways of thinking combine with their learning styles.
Matt Potter
Chapter eight of Ubd focused once again on grading, and how to correctly grade. Grades should always be focused upon specified and pre written goal and standards. This will continuously provide students with motivation, and guidance that they need in order to stay on track. This chapter really pushes getting away from the normal grading system. As teachers we need to grade based on standards, effort, and the passion they present with their work. We need not to grade based off of what is right or wrong. Differentiation continues to be relevant and needs to be applied while grading. This will allow students with the best chance to succeed and improve.Chapter eight in MI begins with a brief discussion on classroom management, based on MIs. We should work to gain the attention of our students. In all learning styles this is seen to be essential because you must have a students attention early on, in order to keep their attention, and their interest long term. Rules in the classroom are another difficulty in the classroom because some kids need things that certain teachers struggle to put forth. The overall goal of this chapter is to use all eight MIs, while maintaining control in the classroom.
[[#|Chapter eleven]] of MI considers special education in the classroom, and the importance of incorporating it when using MIs. The book suggests that special education is best advanced by studies that are centered on MI theory. This allows us, as teachers, to categorize special education students in non-discriminatory ways. I think this is really important because we have some very accomplished disabled individuals in our world. If we continue on the path we are, I believe we fail these students. They deserve the same rights, and the chance to be treated as an equal. Their IEPs need to be developed with all eight MIs in mind and I think this will help these student progress, and equal way. My view is that this will be most beneficial for everyone in the world of education.
Chapter twelve revolves around cognitive benefits of MI theory. Memory and problem solving were a few thing discussed in this chapter. All together the entire book showed that by using the MI theory we are able to better equip our students. This allows them to develop in a balanced way that will help them in the long run.
All of these chapters work toward increasing the educational and mental abilities of our students. It starts with actually teaching then the material, and ends with test and quizzes are the wrong approach. We must work harder in the middle areas to most benefit the students.
Meghan Hughes
Chapter 8 of UbD discussed the principles of grading and giving feedback effectively. This chapter referred to the idea of not relating scoring and grading to letters or numbers. The author feels that grades should be related to proficiency as opposed to having the students strive for a particular letter grade. I am unsure about how successful this method would be. I feel that students are more likely to succeed when they know exactly what they are striving for. It is difficult to relate proficiency to a language and a goal that most students can understand. Although I agree that students should be graded somewhat on their proficiency and growth, why would we want to disregard a student's grade just because they have the natural ability and mastery of the subject? Just because they do not demonstrate growth in the traditional sense does not mean they do not have mastery of the subject.Chapter 8 of MI discusses the idea of using multiple intelligences to capture the attention of all students. It is important to engage all students in order to have a successful classroom. Regarding multiple intelligences, considering all students will be essential to controlling and maintaining a successful classroom environment. Capturing and keeping students' attention is the key principle in fostering a positive relationship between the teacher and the students, and between the students as a classroom.
Chapter 11 of MI discusses special education in the classroom. It is important to understand special education in the classroom in order to make sure that all multiple intelligences are included. The book discusses the idea that successful special education revolves around the use of multiple intelligences in the classroom. I believe that this is true. If the needs of all students are catered to, students will be successful. With positive relationships and an understanding of the multiple intelligences, the teacher will be successful in fostering learning and development with all students.
Chapter 12 is about the application of the MI theory to cognitive skills in the classroom. This includes memory, higher thinking, and problem solving. It is important that students find a method of intelligence that works for him/her as an individual. It is also important to identify how students think and understand information being presented by the teacher. Categorizing students' intelligences will be essential to implementing successful multiple intelligences in the classroom. Doing this will ensure that all students are included and all students will be allowed the ability to learn in a way that will be effective for them.
Russell Warren
With these three chapters, Thomas Armstrong is going deeper into the importance of utilizing multiple intelligence theory in the classroom to address the huge differences that are obvious in a student population. He says that classrooms are “microsocieties with student citizens”, each with their own role to play and desires and interests. Applying MI theory in management cases will keep the class exceptionally smooth. Just as teachers need to develop lesson plans considering the various learning styles students exemplify, they must develop rules and orders with the same things in mind. It will help the students better understand their expectations and be more comfortable in the lesson. However, MI theory is just a context, so not one is good for all. The individual needs to be recognized, which moves us into chapter 11. Each student has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s useless and detrimental to the growth of the student and the impact of our lessons if we focus on the latter. This goes the same for disabilities. I, similarly to Armstrong (I suppose), am really irked by that word. Yes, a student may have a deficiency in an area, but that does not mean we need to focus on that loss. Labeling students as disabled is a hugely weighted term, and the students will be pulled down by it. The powerful learning styles the students use should be celebrated and utilized to their benefit, and, as Armstrong says, “MI theory can help teachers identify a student’s strengths, and this information can serve as a basis for deciding what kinds of interventions are most appropriate.” MI theory treats all students, no matter the disability, as learners first, considering their strongest and weakest areas of learning. Utilizing the strengths of the students will boost their self-esteem and engage them in the class, while building their intelligence and learning styles.
Finally, in chapter 12, Armstrong continues to talk about working on students’ cognitive skills. Personally, I never really enjoyed philosophy and get very easily confused by the many terms, so I find it particularly daunting to try and teach the students cognitive theory – but I agree it’s very important. MI theory is all about building on the students’ various learning styles, but if we don’t give them opportunities to grow through new learning strategies, they’ll never build and refine their skills. Chapter 8 of UbD also focused on student achievement, while looking at it through a grading scope. Tomlinson urges teachers to not focus on what is right or wrong, a strategy I know too well (and suffer under). In so many situations a student may present extreme effort or enthusiasm but receive a low grade due to wrong information, while another student easily understands the material and spent none of the time the other student did. Teachers need to appreciate both students and not favor either, not matter how easier one is to grade. Another point she brings up is that we don’t need to grade at the extent we do. Classrooms should be places where students are trying to understand the material and apply it, not remember it long enough to copy down on a test for a grade. We, as teachers, should want the students to utilize our information in the outside world, so they’re well prepared and ready to look at real-world problems in not such a black and white system, as they’ve been trained to do for years.
Christopher Vogel
Chapter 8 of UbD discusses the upsides and downsides of the grading and reporting system used in schools today and how to use them with backwards design and differentiated instruction. I thought it was interesting that the chapter pointed out the need to grade on content rather than the extraneous “fog” often considered in a student’s grade. I remember many of my papers would get marked down if I forgot my name or other methods of communicating my work rather than just simply the content I covered in the assignment. I hope in my future classroom to design assignments that encourage the successful communication (and the writing of names) of the material while only grading or evaluating the content. The rest of the chapter seemed to focus on how evaluating students can be more effective with more assignments and less dependency on the average of scores. The average does not provide a great means of evaluating a student. The book suggests putting more stock in the final assignments after students have built up a mastery rather than initial assignment grades due to the student still gaining mastery.
Chapter 8 of MI discusses various methods for classroom management and how to incorporate the MI’s into management explanation. I think the most critical part of the chapter for me was the discussion on how to match the strategy for each student. To express and idea to a student does not necessarily need to focus on his or her strongest intelligence. Sometimes a student will learn or understand material better if it comes from their weaker intelligence and will benefit while developing the intelligence.
Chapter 11 on MI discusses the use of MI with learning disabilities and how disabilities are viewed in the society today. The critical point to take from this chapter is to focus on the positive strengths that those with learning disabilities have and expand from there. Too often do we as teachers and as humans focus on the negative and try to improve it. The MI says that a far more effective and moralizing method is to use the strengths and positives each of us possess and use them in class. The MI method of teaching would be a huge benefit because it would cause teachers to find alternative methods of assignment and assessment to evaluate and teach those with learning disabilities.
In chapter 12 in MI, the discussion revolves around the use of MI in memory. Teachers should teach different methods of memorization based on a student’s strength in a particular intelligence. I think this can be critical for the early stages of learning in a classroom. Memorizing information rapidly can be useful but it needs to be reinforced with application. The chapter encourages this idea with the merging of MI theory with Bloom’s Taxonomy. Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge). Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects.
Michael Diffin
Chapter eight in Multiple Intelligences concentrates on how the management of the classroom can be modified using multiple intelligence theory. There are many ways to gain control of the class that are more or less effective than others. The text tells us that the least effective form of classroom management is the use of linguistic or verbal approach. There are many techniques that the book suggests, my favorite is the naturalist approach of playing the recording of an animal or having an animal in the room because a live animal will or should effectively draw the attention of the class. There are also lots of good suggestions in this chapter as how to integrate multiple intelligences in the classroom for all students.[[#|Chapter eleven]] in Multiple Intelligences correlates the Multiple intelligences into special education. Special education can have many different needs for the integration of many types of learning. Students in the special education program need to do everything that is necessary to gain genuine learning so use of the MI's is the first step. The growth paradigm is a good start to the use of multiple intelligences. It does not label the students because this is the first thing that they remember and instead of being labeled they are remembered as being a person first. The second step is to focus on the strengths of the student. Then the use of teaching the students so that the information is relative to real life becomes very important to these students. Then we must facilitate a normal life pattern where they can have friends and peers.
Chapter twelve in Multiple Intelligences uses the MI theory in application to cognitive skills. The first step is accessing the memory. This is one of the reasons why it is important to apply to all of the intelligences because poor memory only ends up applying to several of the multiple intelligences. The next I the ability to problem solve. The children of the united states appear to be having a harder and harder time problem solving. The MI theory, if applied correctly can help facilitate the growth of the students ability to problem solve. We must also tap into a deeper level of learning. Students are going on past their educations with beliefs that should have been wiped out long before the laid claim to any type of degree. The use of blooms taxonomy is a good example of an assessment of the integration of the multiple intelligences.
Chapter eight in Integrating Differnetiated Instruction and Understanding by Design concentrates on the aspect of grading and reporting achievement. This chapter encompasses what I believe to be a perfect definition of grading, “Grading can be viewed as a two part process: (1) assigning symbolic letters or numbers at the end of a specified time to serve as a summary statement about evaluations made of students performances during that portion of t he learning cycle, and (2) reporting the evaluation(s) to students and parents.” I believe this is a perfect definition of the arbitrary process of grading. Achievement in the classroom can only be assessed based on the amount of time that the student has been in the class and how well you can base their individual growth.
Ashley Libby
Chapter eight of Differentiated Instruction focused on how grading and reporting should take place in a differentiated classroom. The book provided the reader with six principles to follow when thinking about grading and how to implement it in the classroom. The principles suggest that grades “should give as clear a measure as possible of the best a student can do…” (130) Students should also not be grader harsher because the majority of class is more advanced and they should not have points taken off if they cannot speak fluent English for example. It pointed out that “Formative assessments should rarely be factored into a final grade.” (131) I find this very baffling because students should be motivated to do well by formative assessments or else they may not put in as much effort if they know it does not count in the end. It is something to think about but I strongly believe in Formative assessments in my future classroom.
Chapter either of Multiple Intelligences was a real eye opener for me. This chapter explained how to grab the student’s attention using the different multiple intelligences. It gave suggestions for each of the intelligences for different scenarios. Trying to capture student’s attention can be such a frustrating time wasting event in the classroom. I have had teachers that would just yell at the class until they just got so annoyed that they would sit down and not say anything until the class quieted itself down. This chapter was very helpful and I will definitely use these techniques in my future classrooms.
Chapter eleven explained how students with disabilities can strive in the classroom. Often people have misconceptions about students with special needs. They sometimes believe that they are not strong with any intelligence when in reality they are usually very strong in one or more specific Intelligence. The book gave a list of famous influential people that had a disability of some sort. One person that extremely surprised me was Albert Einstein and how he had a learning disability. He is one of the inspirational people that keep me going when I have a hard time with new math concepts.
Chapter twelve talked about the brain and the cognitive skills of the students. This chapter suggests that even the brain works in the different intelligences. Student’s memory is affected with how they were taught the material. Problem solving also happens within the eight intelligences. One aspect of the chapter I found surprising was when the chapter suggested that students that had contemporary schooling graduate still naive just like they were in preschool. Cheyenne McCarthy gave us a link to a TEDx talk that was about a thirteen year old boy who attends one of the contemporary schools. He said that all students want is to be happy and healthy and that we do not teach that in schools. Why should students who get taught about being happy be called naieve?
Devin Boilard
UbD Chapter 8 & MI Chapters 8,11,12:
One of the points that really resonated with me in these chapters was the opening of Understanding by Design: Chapter 8, I think it adequately states the internal battle I have with trying to play both the role of advocate and judge. Additionally the topic of grading has really made me reflect on myself as a student, specifically how my experiences as a student will/are influencing my decisions as a teacher. I, like many, fall into the category of “grade hungry” student; I work only for that A. Last week in the midst of discussion on assessment Dr. Grace made reference to the fact that we as teachers should abstain from grading formative assessments, I thought at the time that I was surly misunderstanding. As a teacher I could not think of any assignment or task that I would assign and not link some numerical value to. While my drive for A’s has lead to me acquiring a respectable GPA it has in-turn created a learning atmosphere that lacks much comfort and is riddled with stress. I need to remain cognizant of my actions in the classroom and make sure they reflect a new age of learning; my goal as a teacher is not to give my students the same learning experience as I had, but a better one.
The chapter 8 goes on to really dissect the meaning grades and how past practices have contributed to a distorted image of what the letter actually stands for. For the indicator to sufficiently answer the question of mastery, which is at the core of what is to be gauged, it must be void of arbitrary contributions, such as zeros from missing work when the assignment itself was to help educate on a matter that they later showed mastery in.
Chapter 11 of Multiple Intelligences brings to light such an important topic, the state of special education. This is a subject that has been often left out of the dialogue when discussing education. This is in part due to the fact that the topics of education that do arise are often pertinent to what is taking place inside the walls of classrooms, while students with disabilities are located outside of these perimeters, sealed away in their own rooms. The positive light the MI growth paradigm brings to the topic of special education is refreshing, but sadly far overdue. The special education field, much like mainstream education, has narrowed its focus on student’s inabilities opposed to abilities due to a locked view of intelligence in the realm of verbal and logical intelligence. I think the MI theory really comes to life, and brings validity to the theory, through its use with students that have IEPs and learning disabilities. It is here, through the achieving of success by students previously labeled incapable, that you find your best examples of how intelligence is a spectrum not a linear scale. The cherry on top of this design is that because as teachers we should already be implementing Differentiated Instruction on our classrooms we can re-open the doors to those students who were previously shut out.
While chapter 11of MI does well to offer a broad range of examples of how DI can be used in the classroom, it still seems at moments overwhelming, as if thirty activities need to be going on consistently to meet all your student’s needs. Chapter 8 of MI does well to offer many quick and easy manners in which to use the intelligences to solve everyday classroom management issues. In particular I found the group pairing suggestions to be creative and engaging. I find much of their value in the opportunity it allows for students to move and take a break from the content while still completing a task.
Chapter 12 of MI does well to wrap the chapters up, examining the use of MI to purse a higher level of thinking, as outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning objectives. While the general approach of learning is in the hands of the teacher, what takes place inside our student’s heads is mainly out of sight, that does not mean that it should be out of mind. The need to advice our student’s analytical skills is a generally new theme in the field of the education, while memorization use to be the end-all goal, the ability to use information in context to life situations has grown to shown more value. Chapter 12 does well to bring to light the gap teachers need to be aware of between the classroom and the mind, it is relatively useless for us to supply information in a method that suits their preferred intelligences if they are not in possession of the ability to carry that information further.
Tyler Brown
UbD chapter 8 makes a crucial point about the current yet traditional form of grading in comparison to the emerging understanding that grades cannot accurately depict a student’s aptitude, progress, or potential in the form of a single number. Grades should be a reflection of an individual student’s ability and progress towards mastery of content instead of a snapshot of a summative assessment. While it would override decades of educational reforms and progress, I would even go as far as to say there needs to be a system that rids numbers from the grading equation entirely. Numbers can be too easily misinterpreted because of the lack of detail they provide. I understand that immediate implementation of such a system would cause a flurry of frustrations by current educators as well as students who have been socialized to understand that a number is the deciding factor in whether or not they will grow up to be successful or not. That is why, as is true with all reforms educational or not, it is most effective to start this process of phasing out numerical grades gradually. Perhaps a backwards design would be effective in accomplishing that goal over a set period of time ;)
In the MI book, the chapters discuss how MI theory can be applied to classroom management, special education, and development of cognitive skills, respectively. The encompassing idea here is that multiple intelligence theory can be applied to all aspects of education. Chapter 12, however, finally goes into detail about how the cognitive processes of MI theory work. As a double major in psych, I have been waiting for this chapter all semester. It dives into “memory” and how MI theory applies to cognition and memory in such a way that will help teachers dodge the age old problem of repetition sucking up class time. Spelling is a great example of this. Spelling in the traditional educational approach relies heavily on memorization and use of the linguistic intelligence. If one were to apply MI theory to the practice of spelling, however, you would see other students who typically struggled begin to understand and compete at the same level as linguistic-types in school spelling-bees. Problem solving is another educational concept that many students have struggled with because of the absence of all other MI’s (excluding the logical/mathematical). If cognitive skills were taught by implementing MI theory, there would be an immediate removal of such educational stigmas such as “I am simply bad at math” or “I am simply not good at spelling”.